[asia-apec 1823] Food First Report on the Impact of Free Trade Policy on Family Farms

[Anuradha Mittal]

Food First Report on the Impact of Free Trade Policy on Family Farms


(1)Food First Releases New Report:
Freedom to Trade?  Trading Away American Family Farms


(2)***TAKE ACTION: Oppose Fast Track!!***
November 7 is National All-Call Day Against Fast Track!
Information and Toll-Free Number to 
Contact Your Representatives Below! 

---------------------------------------

Contact: Nick Parker
November 6, 2001                                                         
                (510) 654-4400, ext. 229

Food Policy Think Tank Releases Report on the Impact of Free Trade 
Policies on the American Family Farm

Freedom to Trade?  Trading Away American Family Farms

(OAKLAND, CA) As the World Trade Organization (WTO) gets ready for its 
ministerial meeting to negotiate trade rules for agriculture, and while 
President Bush makes for a case for Trade Promotion Authority so he can 
find new market opportunities for American farmers, a report released by 
Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy, shows that 
so-called free trade policies are virtually starving the American family 
farmer.

The U.S. Department of Labor expects that the United States will lose 
13.2 percent of all family farm jobs between 1998 and 2008, the largest 
projected job loss among all occupations. Driven by trade rules devised 
in Washington for the WTO that strive to reduce or eliminate 
agricultural subsidies, a series of governmental policies are squeezing 
out the family farmer while benefiting corporate agribusiness.

"The disparity is a symptom of a support system that is out of kilter 
with the needs of the average cash-strapped farmer," says Anuradha 
Mittal, Food First Co-director and author of the report. "Most payments 
are tied to acreage: more land equals bigger checks."

This is part of the "get big or get out" policy that drives farming in 
the United States and has accelerated corporate concentration in 
agriculture. Today only two companies, Cargill and Continental, control 
two-thirds of all grain trade in the world. Meanwhile, between 1994 and 
1996 about 25 percent of all hog farmers, 10 percent of all grain 
farmers, and 10 percent of all dairy farmers went out of business.

"American family farmers have been the net losers because the prices 
they receive are below the cost of production. Family farmers produce 
too little to affect total supply and ultimately prices," says Mittal. 
"Reducing their output, rather than helping boost prices, means less 
revenue for them. So they have to keep boosting production to bring home 
even the smallest income."  The result is that family farmers work 
longer hours, produce more, and earn less?far less.

The loss of family farms is wiping out rural communities across America. 
Family farm dollars once circulated through these communities, buying 
equipment, supplies, and groceries from local merchants. Larger 
corporate farms bypass this community network in an effort to centralize 
their purchases. This has endangered the very existence of rural 
communities in America.

The report concludes that the excessive focus on exports is forcing 
overproduction and driving down farm prices. Low prices hurt American 
farmers, and make it impossible for farmers in other countries to 
compete.  Thus this model is driving both American family farmers, and 
their Third World counterparts from the land.  A healthier alternative 
is a model that focuses on the strength of the family farm, which is 
relatively efficient, generates jobs, and can conserve the environment 
and preserve rural communities better than corporate farms.

Full copy of the report can be found at:
http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/backgrdrs/2001/f01v7n4.html

Additional information:
Food First Trade Principles:
http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/backgrdrs/1999/f99v5n2.html

The Multiple Functions and Benefits of Small Farms:
http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/policybs/pb4.html

Why Reform of the WTO is the Wrong Agenda:
http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/backgrdrs/2000/s00v6n3.html

Structural Adjustment Programs are Hitting the U.S. Too:
http://www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/trade/a16-mittal.html

To schedule interviews with the author, or to order a review copy of the 
report, please contact Nick Parker, Media Coordinator at (510)654-4400, 
ext. 229.


---------------------------------------

*** URGENT ACTION: Oppose the Fast Track! ***
**** YOU CAN HELP NOW - Act Today! ****

November 7 is National All-Call Day Against Fast Track
Contact your Representatives Toll-Free
1-800-393-1082*

Let your Representative hear you loud & clear: 
       NO FAST TRACK/NO H.R. 3005!

The corporate lobby (Business Round Table et al), the GOP 
leadership, the corporate media, editorial writers and now the White 
House have all agreed: Fast Track (H.R. 3005) is on their short list 
of votes they want to push through before Congress adjourns. The GOP 
Leaders have said this for a while, but now the White House is in 
gear and the pro-Fast Track lobby has intensified its efforts. They 
view the upcoming 4th Ministerial of the World Trade Organization 
(WTO) from November 9-13 as an excellent excuse for setting a 
specific vote date to ram Fast Track through. We could see a 
possible floor vote as early as the week of November 5!

The corporate lobby and House GOP leaders have been fighting a 
desperate game for months of trying to dig up, bully up, shore up 
votes which - thanks to your excellent work - do not exist. Now they 
are started to playing hardball - offering deals and twisting arms 
in exchange for votes. As we know, this stage of a any trade bill 
push is a very dangerous time for us - weaselly Members have traded 
their votes in the past for empty promises.

----------------------------------------

How do we keep our Fast Track victory?
Join the national call in day against Fast Track on November 7th. 
Call early and often to hold your member accountable to what matters 
most: her/his constituents!
The number to call is 1-800-393-1082* - all you have to do is enter 
your zip-code.
If you would like to call more than just your own Member, e-mail 
gtwfield at citizen.org and we will tell you of other undecided Members 
of the House to call.

----------------------------------------

Talking Points (for more information on Fast 
Track visit www.tradewatch.org):
* This is not the time to bring up such a controversial issue. Few 
issues are more divisive than Fast Track at a time when we need the 
unity and bipartisanship that was created after September 11th. 
There are many urgent things that MUST BE done for the millions who 
are suddenly without a job, to safeguard us from future attacks.
* The Thomas bill (H.R. 3005) is a slap in the face - it is the same 
old anti-labor, anti-environmental garbage that was in the 1997 and 
1998 Fast Track with some new rhetoric. It does not address the 
issues of labor and environment in any meaningful way, nor does it 
beef up Congress' role in trade to hold negotiators accountable and 
stop these NAFTA type deals.
* H.R. 3005 allows foreign corporations to challenge domestic 
environmental, zoning and other laws. Under NAFTA there have been 
lawsuits by foreign corporations challenging a whole array of 
democratically determined local policies, and Thomas' bill does 
nothing to address this (for more information go to 
http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7076).

* Toll-free number is provided courtesy of the AFL-CIO

TELL US WHAT YOU'RE HEARING FROM YOUR MEMBER!
gtwfield at citizen.org or 202-546-4996 (ask for any member of the GTW 
field team)


                           ###

For more information, to order Food First Books,or to join our member-supported organization, go to:
http://www.foodfirst.org.  
Or send your tax-deductible check to:
Food First, 398 60th St. Oakland, CA 94618

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